The Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen ("Fountain of Justice") is a 16th-century fountain

Fountain

A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....

 in the Gerechtigkeitsgasse

Gerechtigkeitsgasse

-External links:...

in the Old City of Bern, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. It is the only Bernese fountain to retain all original design elements, and is listed as a cultural heritage of national significance

Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance

The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...

.

Thanks to its namesake figure, Hans Gieng

Hans Gieng

Hans Gieng was a Swiss Renaissance sculptor best known for his public fountain figures in the Old Town of Bern as well as Fribourg.- Biography :...

's famous statue of Lady Justice

Lady Justice

Lady Justice |Dike]]) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems.-Depiction:The personification of justice balancing the scales of truth and fairness dates back to the Goddess Maat, and later Isis, of ancient Egypt. The Hellenic deities Themis and Dike were later...

, the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen surpasses all other Bernese fountains in artistic merit. The iconic figure was copied throughout Switzerland up until the middle of the 17th century. The statue is a copy of the original, which was largely destroyed by vandals in 1986.

Fountain

The fountain consists of an octagonal main basin and two smaller spillover basins. The main basin, made out of unadorned limestone plates held together with an iron ring, bears the date of one of the renovations, MDCCCXLV. In the centre of the main basin, bronze tubes emerge from the central pedestal, which was replaced in 1949. Atop it stands a narrow, festoon

Festoon

Festoon , a wreath or garland, and so in architecture a conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons, either from a decorated knot, or held in the mouths of lions, or suspended across the back of bulls heads as...

ed stone pillar decorated by an acanthus

Acanthus (ornament)

The acanthus is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration.-Architecture:In architecture, an ornament is carved into stone or wood to resemble leaves from the Mediterranean species of the Acanthus genus of plants, which have deeply cut leaves with some similarity to...

 frieze.

Statue

The life-sized statue on the pillar is Iustitia, "Lady Justice", the personification of justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

. She is portrayed standing in gracious counterpoise

Contrapposto

Contrapposto is an Italian term that means counterpose. It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This gives the figure a more dynamic, or alternatively relaxed...

 holding her traditional attributes — sword of justice

Sword of Justice

A Sword of Justice, or executioner's sword, was used by trained executioners for carrying out capital punishment in many cultures. Given their special 'ceremonial' purpose, they were usually very well-made of the highest quality metal and were extremely sharp...

 in her right hand, a balance in her left hand and a blindfold

Blindfold

A blindfold is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. It can be worn when the eyes are in a closed state and thus prevents the wearer from opening them...

 over her eyes. Her costume is fashioned in an antique manner, with sandaled feet, one knee bared, wearing a decorative golden suit of armour adorned with bas-relief arabesque

Arabesque

The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements...

s over her blue robes.

At the feet of Justice, four smaller busts crowd the pedestal: a Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

, an Emperor

Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

, a Sultan

Sultan

Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...

 and a Schultheiss, whose golden chain of office is believed to have originally borne the Bernese arms. All figures have closed their eyes as in submission. They represent the Four Earthly Powers, the four forms of government according to Renaissance humanism

Renaissance humanism

Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...

: theocracy

Theocracy

Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....

 (the Pope), monarchy

Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 (the Emperor), autocracy

Autocracy

An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...

 (the Sultan) and the republic

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

 (the Schultheiss).

Symbolism

The ensemble represents the supremacy of Justice over all Earthly authorities; a variant of the medieval pictorial formula of virtue defeating vice. The contemporary belief in the divine nature of Justice is made more apparent in a 1558 Bernese drawing for a stained-glass window by Hans Rudolf Manuel; there, a winged Justice strides over the heads of princes whose symbols of power are broken. Divine Justice was a frequent element of political discourse in Reformation-era

Reformation in Switzerland

The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate and population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss...

 Bern. In the view of the reformators, doing justice according to God's word was the highest duty of all authority, superseding feudal rights. Such arguments were used, among others, to justify Bern's conquest of Vaud

Vaud

Vaud is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and is located in Romandy, the French-speaking southwestern part of the country. The capital is Lausanne. The name of the Canton in Switzerland's other languages are Vaud in Italian , Waadt in German , and Vad in Romansh.-History:Along the lakes,...

 in 1536 from the dukes of Savoy

Savoy

Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....

.

While the sword and scales are traditional attributes of Iustitia, the Bernese statue's blindfold is a novelty; only later did it become a common element in personifications of Justice and a general symbol for the principle of equality before the law

Equality before the law

Equality before the law or equality under the law or legal egalitarianism is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws....

. The blindfold implies that justice ought to be done without respect to rank or standing; that a just verdict is arrived at through introspection rather than with a view to outward looks. Gieng's Iustitia is a symbol of republican justice, and was a forceful public reminder of the Bernese Republic's authority through law.

Influence

Gieng's Iustitia was greatly influential on fountain designers up until the middle of the 17th century. In Switzerland alone, eleven "fountains of Justice" remain, and several others have probably been destroyed. Direct copies exist in Solothurn

Solothurn

The city of Solothurn is the capital of the Canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The city also comprises the only municipality of the district of the same name.-Pre-roman settlement:...

 (1561), Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

 (1585), Boudry

Boudry

Boudry is the capital of the district of Boudry in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-History:Boudry is first mentioned in 1278 as Baudri.There are numerous prehistoric settlements around Boudry...

, Cudrefin

Cudrefin

Cudrefin is a municipality in the district of Broye-Vully in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-Geography:thumb|left|CudrefinCudrefin has an area, , of . Of this area, or 60.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 22.8% is forested...

 and Neuchâtel; designs influenced by the Bernese statue are found in Aarau

Aarau

Aarau is the capital of the northern Swiss canton of Aargau. The city is also the capital of the district of Aarau. It is German-speaking and predominantly Protestant. Aarau is situated on the Swiss plateau, in the valley of the Aar, on the river's right bank, and at the southern foot of the Jura...

 (1643), Biel, Burgdorf, Brugg

Brugg

Brugg or Brügg may refer to the following places:* In Switzerland:** Brugg, Aargau, in the Canton of Aargau*** FC Brugg, a Swiss football club, from the town of Brugg in Canton Aargau...

, Zürich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

 and Luzern.

History

The fountain was constructed in 1543, essentially in its current state, to complement an older well

Water well

A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...

 at the Nydegg

Nydegg

The Nydegg is a historic section in the Old City of Bern in Bern, Switzerland.The first expansion of Bern occurred as the city was founded in 1191. At the east end of the central and oldest neighbourhood, the Zähringerstadt , was the Nydegg castle near the banks of the Aare river. The houses that...

. Its current name is first recorded in 1687. Renovations are recorded in 1584, 1589, 1668 and 1687. The sword and balance were removed, allegedly by the invading French, in 1798 and disappeared for many years; they and the figures' other paraphernalia have frequently been replaced. The figure was repainted in 1890 by Christian Bühler and in 1925 by Viktor Surbek

Viktor Surbek

Viktor Surbek was a Swiss painter from Berne.After studies in Italy, Germany and Paris , he married fellow painter Marguerite Frey in 1914 and operated a painting school with her up until 1931. Surbek travelled widely and displayed his works at numerous expositions after 1905...

. In 1949, parts of the pedestal were replaced.

Vandalism

After having stood in place for 443 years, the statue was torn down after midnight on 13 October 1986 by means of a rope and tackle. It was largely destroyed by the fall. The act was not claimed by anyone, but was generally attributed to the Groupe Bélier, a militant youth organization advocating Jurassic separatism

Jurassic separatism

Jurassic separatism is a regionalist independence movement in the Bernese Jura.The "Jurassic question" is the question of secession of the Jura region from Berne, implemented partially as three of seven districts formed the Canton of Jura in 1979, while the remaining four opted to remain with...

. At that time, the Béliers frequently engaged in acts of vandalism to express the Jurassian separatists' outrage over allegations of irregularities in the plebiscites of 1974-5 that caused the Bernese Jura to not join the canton of Jura

Canton of Jura

The Republic and Canton of the Jura , also known as the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura, is one of the cantons of Switzerland. It is the newest of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital is Delémont...

; and over what was, according to the separatists, a cover-up of these irregularities by the Bernese and federal authorities.

Only one person was ever implicated in the destruction of the statue. Pascal Hêche, a 29-year-old mechanic and Bélier, retracted his initial confession and pled not guilty to having participated in the attack. The Bernese courts sentenced him to 22 months confinement and to the payment of CHF

Swiss franc

The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...

 200,000 in damages; the judgment was upheld by the Federal Supreme Court in 1991 and 1992.

Since the attack, the damaged statue has been in the process of restoration at the city's historical museum

Historical Museum of Bern

The Historical Museum of Bern is the second largest historical museum in Switzerland. It was built in 1894 by the Neuchâtel architect André Lambert...

. The statue in place since 1988 is a copy.

External links